Cleveland Browns quarterback competition wide open heading into summer

The Cleveland Browns quarterback competition is beginning to take shape, but no one is yet the wiser as to who will start training camp as the leader, let alone win the thing. Head coach Hue Jackson continues to keep us guessing, while all we can do is patiently wait for the snaps to mean something and for a starter to emerge from the group.

“I think it is way too soon to speculate on that,” Jackson said following practice, following a question about who the team’s starting quarterback will be to start training camp.

Earlier on the field, Cody Kessler and rookie DeShone Kizer both received first-team reps during the first session of the team’s mandatory three-day minicamp, per The Plain Dealer’s May Kay Cabot:

From her tone, Cabot seems to believe it will be Kizer, not Brock Osweiler, who challenges Kessler, the team’s incumbent from 2016, once training camp arrives in late July.

It’s possible Osweiler may find himself out of the discussion entirely, but that’s very speculative at this point. Although, while he continued as the second quarterback to play, Osweiler worked primarily with the second-team offense during the session.

But try not to look too far into the order and snap distribution at this early juncture, the coach implored us.

“Honestly, it hasn’t changed. That is the way it has been since OTAs have started. You guys just had an opportunity to see it so I think the players will tell you nothing has changed,” Jackson said following the practice. “We are just mixing and matching and giving guys opportunities.”

Let’s be honest, anyone trying to glean too much valuable information out of these initial practice sessions may be reading the tea leaves a little bit here. The coach has been extremely non-committal about the position and has now admittedly been shuffling the quarterbacks around with who they’re throwing the ball to. It’s still early, and he’s not going to divulge his stance on the group until he starts seeing them distinguish themselves on the field.

They can’t do that until they, you know, practice more on the field.

So, remember what Jackson said, he isn’t doing anything differently just because you may see different things in practices that have been made available to the public.

Being patient and letting the process work itself out seems to be our only recourse at this point. Besides, it doesn’t matter much who begins training camp as the starter. It’s infinitely more important to find out who walks out of camp with the task of leading the 2017 Browns into the regular season.